In praise of vintage cookbooks

The pictures might be kitsch, the ingredients might be basic, but there is a value in simplicity Although I haven't yet cooked my way through the entirety of the St Michael All Colour Cookery Book , close reading suggests that the prize for worst recipe must go to “brussels sprouts in a mould”, a dish in which everyone's least favourite brassica, having first been pureed, is mixed with mashed potato, cream, butter, an egg and some nutmeg, and baked in the oven in a bain-marie for 45 minutes. “In wintertime, it makes a welcome change from the usual vegetable dishes,” reads the preamble. A...Read more ...